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Worms

Your dog dragging his butt across the floor is more likely to be a sign of problems with his anal sacs than of him being infested with worms!

Routine deworming of your pet, every 3 to 6 months, using the best broad-spectrum multi dewormer you can budget for, comes highly recommended. This may save your dog’s life, prevent anaemia and nutritional deficiencies, and generally keep your dog healthier and less likely to incur expensive Veterinary Bills. Other common symptoms of internal worm infestation are: potbelly, constipation caused by a blocked intestine, lack of appetite and diarrhoea. It should automatically be assumed that all puppies are potential worm hosts, and receive their first puppy-safe deworming dose at just over 2 weeks, repeated every 2 to 3 weeks until they are 12 weeks of age.

This is yet another scenario where prevention is, indeed, better than cure. Several worm types, such as tapeworms and roundworms, may be transmitted to humans. This is known as zootosis, where infection occurs across differing species.

Certain worms are commonly found:

Flukes

Hookworms

Roundworms

Spirocerca Lupi (Oesophageal worm)

Tapeworms

Threadworms

Whipworms

Most worm types are diagnosed by your Vet receiving a sample of your pet’s fresh pooh from you, and doing a faecal float test. This test is very affordable.

SPIROCERCA LUPI ( Oesophageal worm)

Spirocerca lupi are bright red worms generally located within nodules in the oesophageal, gastric or aortic walls. Dogs become infected by eating an infective host, such as a dung beetle, or an intermediate host like garden pigeons, lizards or rats. Eggs are passed in the faeces approximately 5 to 6 months after infection. Most infected dogs show no clinical signs until the disease is fairly advanced. When an oesophageal granuloma is very large, the dog has difficulty in swallowing and may vomit repeatedly after trying to eat. Strings of saliva hanging from the sides of the mouth are considered a fairly good indicator of infection. Occasionally a dog will die suddenly as the result of a massive haemorrhage into the chest after the aorta, damaged by the developing worms, bursts.

Diagnosis can be made by faecal float tests done by your Vet. X-rays, with Barium, which show dense masses in the oesophagus may be done. An endoscopic examination, by inserting a tiny medical camera inside a tube, down the oesophagus is the most accurate method of diagnosis.

Doramectin – a cattle dewormer - is the most commonly used treatment.

Consult with your Vet. This worm can be fatal.

The egg is looked for in faecal float tests.	An oesophageal granuloma, typically associated with Spirocerca Lupi	Adult Spirocerca Lupi

ROUNDWORMS (Ascarids)

Roundworms are common, especially in puppies and kittens. Toxocara canis is important to treat, and prevent, as the larvae may be transmitted to humans. Fatal infections in young puppies are known.

The usual method of infection in puppies is across the placental barrier whilst they are still inside their pregnant Dam. The first indication of infection in young pups is lack of growth and loss of condition. Infected pups will be dull, lethargic and potbellied, and may vomit and have diarrhoea. Worms may be vomited and often voided in the faeces. Cleanliness where accidents happen is essential. In severe, untreated infections of puppies, infections like pneumonia, ascites, and fatty degeneration of the liver are common. This worm looks like spaghetti strands in the faeces.

Puppies should receive their first deworming at around 2 weeks of age, which is then repeated every 2 to 3 weeks thereafter until the puppies are 12 weeks old.

Roundworm eggs, usually found in the soil or faeces, enter dogs via the mouth and hatch in the intestines. They later become mobile and crawl up the windpipe to reach the mouth. Here they cause bouts of gagging and coughing, and are swallowed again, from where they return to the intestine to become adult worms capable of reproducing.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

The egg is looked for in faecal float tests.	Adult roundworms

HOOKWORMS

Ancylostoma caninum is the hookworm type most commonly recorded in the pets. The eggs are passed in the pooh 15-20 days after infection. Infection may result from ingesting infective larvae from the environment, and sometimes from the colostrum or milk of infected Dams, as well as when puppies are forming inside the uterus. Soil or water may become contaminated. Hookworms have been known to burrow into the host animal’s skin, and migrate through the bloodstream to the lungs and trachea, where they are coughed up, swallowed and end up in the intestine - here they attach to the intestinal wall and begin their blood-feast.

The infected dog will suffer from anaemia, become debilitated, malnourished, lose weight, and have diarrhoea with dark, tarry faeces that eventually show traces of blood. Anaemia results from the bleeding ulcerations that occur when the worm moves to different sites, as well as from the bloodsucking feeding of the worm.

The bitch should be free of hookworms before breeding and be kept out of contaminated areas during pregnancy.

This worm is known to be a potential killer – kill it before it can harm your dog!

Veterinary management is necessary for heavy infestations by hookworms.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

The egg is looked for in faecal float tests.	Adult hookworm, showing it’s six teeth.

WHIPWORMS

Trichuris vulpis are the most common whipworm species. They are thicker at one end than the other, giving them a whip-like appearance. Thick-shelled eggs are passed in the faeces and become infectious within 2 to 4 weeks in a warm, moist environment. No symptoms are seen in light infections, but as the worm burden increases and the inflammatory reaction in the large intestine becomes more pronounced, weight loss and diarrhoea are evident. Sometimes, fresh blood may be seen in the pooh, with accompanying anaemia, in dogs carrying a large whipworm burden.

The eggs are susceptible to drying out, therefore by maintaining cleanliness and eliminating moist areas, the infection in dogs can be reduced considerably. Soil may be contaminated by this worm species. Whipworm infections can be difficult to control.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

The egg is looked for in faecal float tests.	Whipworm growing inside it’s egg.	Adult whipworm.

TAPEWORMS (Cestodes)

Tapeworms are more commonly found in animals that eat natural prey. Domestic pets may acquire Dipylidium caninum tapeworms from fleas. Suburban, rural and hunting dogs have more access to various small mammals and raw meat and are thus more susceptible to tapeworm infection. Humans, too, may be infected by tapeworms.

Adult tapeworms, found in the intestines, rarely cause serious disease. Clinical signs may depend on the degree of infection, age, condition and breed of the host.

Symptoms include; irritability, coprophagia (eating pooh), poor coat that roughens in texture, colic, abdominal pain and mild diarrhoea.

Diagnosis is based on finding eggs or proglottid segments of tapeworms in the faeces. These segments look like miniature grains of rice.

Control of tapeworms requires treatment, preferably prophylactic (preventative), and prevention of flea infestations. Raw meat from unknown sources should preferably not be fed, especially pork.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

Dipylidium caninum, “flea tapeworm”, egg packets	Tapeworm proglottid “segment”	Adult Dipylidium caninum tapeworms.

FLUKES (Intestinal Flukes)

Flukes are flat, leaf-shaped, unsegmented worms that look like leeches. They have suckers, hooks, or clamp-like appendages to attach themselves to the host’s organs. Fluke eggs have a unique characteristic - the shell around the egg has a trap door called an operculum.

Nanophyetus salmincola causes "salmon poisoning". It is the most common fluke affecting domestic pets. It is oval-shaped and is found in the small intestine of dogs and cats. The first intermediate hosts are snails. Dogs become infected by eating raw or improperly prepared infected fish, or even by munching crunchy garden snails. Flukes embed deeply in the intestine, and large numbers cause enteritis.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

Fluke egg	Adult flukes.

Threadworms (Strongyloides Stercoralis)

Threadworms are small round worms found both in man and domestic pets. Eggs and larvae are passed in the faeces. They live in the intestine. These worms are able to directly penetrate the skin, and thus infect their host. Larvae may be ingested.

Puppies with threadworm have a watery diarrhoea, and show symptoms of lung infections. The symptoms of infection by this worm are often mistaken for distemper.

My dewormers of choice are: Drontal and Milbemax.

Discuss deworming with your Vet.

Threadworm egg	Adult threadworms

WARNING: The first confirmed positive cases of heartworm to be diagnosed in South Africa were identified

in the Gauteng area in 2006!

Heartworms

Positive diagnosis of heartworm infection has recently been made in the Gauteng area. This is worrying, even though the case numbers are very small.

Heartworm is a mosquito-borne disease with a 6 to 7 months lifecycle. Adult worms can live for 5 years in the right side of heart, growing all the while. Sometimes the arteries of the lungs are also infected, causing pulmonary emboli. Symptoms include signs of liver failure, jaundice, bloody pooh, a swollen abdomen, and anaemia.

A soft, deep cough accompanied by weight loss and fatigue is the most common symptom, and may be mistaken for cardiomyopathy or heart disease.

Blood tests are available, but several are usually needed to effectively detect this nasty and potentially lethal worm. X-rays are better tools to use in making a positive diagnosis.

Consult with your Vet.

Heartworm microfilaria seen in a Knotts test	Heartworms inside infected canine heart.	Adult heartworms.

e-mail: flourishingfairies@globalzone.co.za

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